Beyond The Masks Part 16
by Isabella GL
Summary: People live and people die, will Holly and Roger end up together or apart? This part has two chapters.
1. Chapter 1

When Holly finally came back to her senses, she couldn't tell if she'd been unconscious for two hours, two days or two years. She looked around her, but to her utter amazement, there was nothing to see. She seemed to be floating in the breeze, surrounded by the white and shimmering air. Specks of gold lazily flied passed her. Now that she thought of it, she had never felt better or lighter in her whole life.

"Hey, you." She was startled but relieved to hear Roger's voice next to her. She turned around, trying in vain to locate him. "I'm right next to you," he said.

"What do you mean? I can't see you anywhere!"

"I can't see you either, but there you are anyway. I can feel your presence."

"What?" Holly looked down at where her body should have been. Nothing was there. She was utterly invisible. She soon realized, however, that she didn't care very much.

"Where are we?"

"No idea, but isn't this the most beautiful place you've ever seen? The rent must be sky- high."

"Roger, please, this is no time for jokes." She paused. "We're dead, aren't we?"

"Maybe, but then again I've never felt so alive than I do now, strange isn't it? "

She understood completely, but that didn't prevent her bliss to slowly make way to anxiety. "We can't stay here, Roger, we have to go back."

"I don't see why we should. I really like it here."

"Because it's all clear to me now, Roger. I remember everything, everything! We belong together."

"I could've told you that without us being shot." She couldn't see his face, but she could swear that he was smirking.

"Roger, this is serious! I want to be with you, we have to back and be together!" she urged him.

"But, honey, can't you see? We already ARE."

* * *

Holly woke up with a start for the second time that day, and this time she didn't feel nearly as good as the first. Her body felt like it had been beaten to a pulp and she found herself unable to get up.

"Roger!" she finally managed to call out. Her mouth was dry and tasted of blood.

She heard someone rush to her side and take her hand. "Mom!"

"Blake?" She was still unable to focus but could vaguely make out her daughter's silhouette.

"Oh, mom!" was all that Blake could answer before falling into tears.

"What's going on, sweetie, where are we?"

Her daughter blew her nose before replying in a shaky voice. "You don't remember?"

"I remember being shot. Is this a hospital?"

"Yes, we're in Chicago. You were transferred two days ago. They had to wait for you to be able to make the trip, but you've been unconscious for more than a week," and she started weeping again.

"Am I going to be ok?" Holly asked, lifting a hand to her head, which hurt her the most. She felt a thick bandage underneath her fingers.

"Yes! The bullet grazed you skull but didn't go in. You lost a lot of blood and you're still very weak, but Ed said you should make a full recovery."

"Ed?"

"He's here. He came as soon as I called him and he's the one taking care of you."

As Holly's mind was getting clearer, questions were starting to pop in her head faster than she could utter them. "Where's Roger?" she first asked, swallowing hard.

"Here. He got shot too."

"How is he?"

Blake shook her head before answering. "Not so good. He got shot right in the middle of the chest. They were able to get the bullet out, but he's still hooked on the life support machine. I don't know if he will…" She broke down, unable to go on.

Holly's heart seemed to stop, the blood draining out of her face. "Take me to him."

Blake raised her head from the bed on which she had collapsed and blurted: "How? You can't walk yet."

"Watch me." And Holly lifted herself and managed to sit, thought it felt like each and every bone in her body had been grinded to dust. She took a deep breath and tried to swing her legs out of the bed, without success. They wouldn't budge. All the while, Blake stared at her with mounting amazement. "Wait," she finally said.

She pulled at the bed and smiled. "This thing is on wheels." She made sure the coast was clear and then pushed the bed down the hall. She then entered a room on her left, and closed the door behind them.

There was no sound in the room except for the sad music of the machines surrounding Roger. Wires were sticking out of him like pins from a cushion. Tears started streaming down Holly's face as Blake pushed her bed against his. He looked lifeless.

"Why didn't you come back with me, Roger? Why did you stay up there? You have to live, please live!"

Before she could say more, she was interrupted by a stern male voice. "What do you think that you're doing here?"

She turned around, ready to bark, when she realized that Ed was the one who had spoken.

He went to her side and forced her to lie down. "You can't be here, Holly, you need to rest."

"I can't be away from him now, Ed. I just can't."

"It's for his own good. It's protocol."

"Fuck protocol, ok? I know what's good for my husband. And if you take me away, then I'll crawl right back."

"Or I'll carry her if I have too," added Blake.

Ed sighed, knowing full well he was beaten. "Fine. We'll move you into a double room thought, there not enough space here. I'll go make the arrangements."

He walked to the door and then paused on the threshold. "Glad to see you're feeling better," he added, a warm smile spreading across his face.

Blake waited until he was gone before going to her mother's side. She sat at the foot of the bed and looked at her for a couple of minutes, smiling. "You remember everything, don't you?"

"Everything, sweetie. That's why he can't die on me now. He just can't." She tried to reach for her daughter's hand, wincing, before giving up with a groan.

"What is it?" Blake asked.

"Forgive me for being mad at you. I know how you and Ross love each other."

Blake waved her hand, as if tossing the thought aside. "Forget it, it's nothing. I would've reacted in the same way in your position. I'm just so glad that you're going to be ok, and that you regained your memory." She stroked her mother's arm, not wanting to let go of her.

They stayed like this for a few minutes, Holly being slowly lulled to sleep by her daughter's touch. She was drained. Blake's voice reached her from what seemed to be very far after a while. "So, does it mean that you remember what happened when you were kidnapped?"

Her throat tightened and that taste of blood returned once again. "Yes, but we'll talk about it later. I'm exhausted."

"Sure. I'll go find Ross and tell him the good news. We'll be back soon."

Holly was already fast asleep and didn't answer.

* * *

She could tell by looking out the window that she had slept for hours. Night was falling. Roger was lying next to her, still unconscious, and she noticed that they had been moved to a bigger room, as Ed has promised.

They were all alone. Holly propped herself on her right elbow and gazed at her husband's face. Then she called his name, once, then twice and before she knew it, she couldn't stop herself from repeating it again and again, like a chant. She would will him back to her in the end. He would come back to her, he had to.

The whole night trough, she remembered about the way their lives had always been intertwined, so much so that she was convinced that she would die if he ever left her side. She recalled all the times he had kissed her lips, all of their fights, the day she had given birth to their daughter.

All the while she squeezed his hand, hoping to inject some life back into him, but Roger remained as motionless as Death itself.


	2. Chapter 2

"So how did you find us?" Holly asked Ross the next morning.

She had woken up minutes ago only to find Blake, Ross and Johnny standing next to her bed.

"I was following you," Johnny said. Holly gave him a puzzled look. "After Roger left the hotel, he contacted me in New York. He started investigating that guy you were seeing right away, and he discovered that it was Guerrera himself. He asked me to identify him and to help him take him down. So, I came back."

"You helped Roger?"

Johnny laughed. "Well, I kinda did it for you, you know."

"So it was Guerrera all this time. What a fool I have been!" Holly looked out the window, unable to meet their gaze.

"Mom, there was no way you could have known!"

"I've been a selfish idiot. You all urged me to come back, but no; I had to stay there with that freak. Now Roger is the one paying for my stupidity. I hope Guerrera rots in jail for the rest of his life."

Ross cleared his throat. "Actually, Roger killed him. They shot each other at the same time, but Roger aimed right at his heart."

"And now that he's dead, the CIA has finally convinced the local police to collaborate. They dismantled the whole cartel. Nobody's going to bother you anymore," Johnny added.

Holly sighed. "Would you mind giving me a few minutes alone? I need to process this."

They nodded and silently left, worry spread across their faces.

She waited until they were gone to turn toward her husband. She could feel the shame burning her cheeks. If he died, she would have no one to blame but herself. How could she have been so blind?

Hearing footsteps, she hurriedly wiped the tears falling from her eyes. "Hey," said Ed, coming in. "I need to check on Roger."

"Sure."

He started probing around the wound and checking his vital signs, taking notes. As the exam progressed, his frown deepened. Holly, who had been following his every move, asked: "What is it? Why are you frowning like this?"

Ed sighed and went to her bedside. "I don't know, Holly. He's been like this for days. If he was going to come out of his coma, there should have been some improvement by now."

Holly's heart sank. "You can't give up on him, Ed. There's got to be something that you can do."

"I'm afraid not, Honey. At this point, we have to wait and see."

* * *

Holly spent the rest of her day praying like she had never prayed in her life. She prayed to every god she had ever heard of. She sang all the songs that Roger liked; she talked aloud about their wedding, the cliff house, the first time he had been shot. She told him that she loved him countless times. She pleaded with him, screamed at him, cursed at him, she begged, but still nothing happened. Roger wouldn't so much as take a breath on his own.

Night was now falling and despair was starting to creep into Holly's heart. Was there really no way that she could get through to him? Was the connection severed for good?

After another hour of sitting motionless, a spark suddenly came into her eyes. She pushed her bed sheets away and, after many attempts, finally succeeded in getting up. Clutching at the bed side, she then ripped up her hospital gown with her free hand. Naked, she slipped into Roger's bed, stripping him of his own gown. She then curled up against him, careful not to hurt him. She ran a hand on his chest, rested it gently on his heart, and then traced the contours of his face with one of her fingers.

In all those years when she and Roger had been convinced that they hated each other, their bodies had told a different story. Always, their bodies had been irresistibly pulled toward one another, and when words failed them, their bodies would speak for them. Holly rested her head on Roger's shoulder, waiting.

His body would remember hers.


End file.
